LIVE HIM

live (transitive verb): act out, practice, experience firsthand, run on

“Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him.” Colossians 2:6

Living Jesus. How do I just “go ahead” and do this?

I know a lot about him. I believe the Bible. I pray about things. I try to follow the “rules” attached to being a Christian.

But do I really live him?

Do I experience a relationship with him that is freeing, empowering, thriving?

Do I act him out? Do I practice what I believe about Jesus?

I get pretty busy checking the boxes of what I do or don’t do. Did I go to church? Did I finish my Bible study homework? And, oh, I hope I didn’t break any commandments today.

Do I feel it? Do I experience firsthand a closeness with him?

Is it an emotional high that I’m waiting for? An audible voice I’m striving to hear? Is it a peaceful presence I’m hoping for as I hustle through my day?

Can I truly run on his strength instead of my own?

Do I lean into him, or do I just power through on my own? When I find myself in the weak places that feel so hard to climb out of, do I turn my eyes to him or stay focused on the hard?

The ways I attempt to live him don’t feel very real or very alive. What am I doing wrong?

Paul says, “Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve.” v.11

It’s not physical, philosophical, or even logical. It is way beyond our comprehension how Jesus transforms us with his breath, his blood, his redemption. How he continually grows us and strengthens with vibrant renewal and healing love.

But he does.

Living Jesus.

Acting him out. Experiencing him firsthand. Running on him.

This is possible, this is what he offers, and this is his work, already done.

It’s not about what we know or even what we do. Because the focus of living for Jesus is Jesus.

Can we simply let him draw us close? Can we allow him to love and fill and empower us as we submit to his spirit of grace and freedom? Can we hold onto Jesus even more tightly than we hold onto the ideas we have about him?

I want this kind of life in him. For him. Because of him. With him.

Invite Him in: thank him for doing it already. For dying in our place so that we can come close. He is our true and faithful source of fulfilling, meaningful, forever life. We’ve been given Jesus–we can go ahead and talk with him, cry with him, question him, eat with him, work with him, laugh with him, rest in him, count on him, and simply. live. him.